CONFIDENTIAL

A Study of Unidentified Flying Objects

Linus Pauling

16 July 1966

There is a possibility that I shall be conducting a study of unidentified flying objects, culminating in the preparation of a report. I now record some ideas about topics to be taken up, if such a study is to be made.

1. Evidence of present-day observers. Published evidence and files of reports should be carefully examined and an assessment made of the reliability and competence of the observers. This study might include taking testimony from those observers whose reports are most interesting and who seem to be the most likely to be reliable and competent. Special attention should be paid to consistency of reports by different observers in different places.
2. A study of historical reports. An analysis of historical reports might reveal a pattern of similarities that would be considered significant.
3. The analysis of the reports with respect to the possibility of interpretation as physical phenomena, such as St. Elmo's fire, marsh gas fire, reflections from windows in the room or vehicle containing the observer, high-altitude clouds illuminated by the sun, meteors, and so on.
4. Analysis of the reports with respect to their explanation as involving man-made vehicles, apparatus, or structures of known character.
5. The discussion of possible explanation of reliable reports not accounted for under 3 or 4.
6. Analysis of available information about experimental vehicles, and the discussion of possible vehicles that might be under classified investigation.
7. A study of the possibility that extraterrestrial sentient beings have been in contact with the earth over a long period of time.
8. Analysis of the evidence about the possibility of the extraterrestrial origin of man and of some or all other organisms on earth. This analysis would include the study of the comparative molecular structures of man and other organisms, such as cytochrome-C in man and bread yeast, the analysis of paleontological evidence about the geological periods during which recognizable ancestors of present-day living organisms existed on earth, and conclusions about the time when extraterrestrial life might have been introduced.
9. The analysis of the possibility of existence of sentient beings on other planets of the solar system, at the present time or at earlier times, or on satellites of other planets of the solar system.
10. A discussion of the existence of sentient beings on planets adjacent to the nearest stars, and of the possibility of their transportation to earth.
11. Analysis of the possible existence of sentient beings on planets on distant stars, and the possibility of their transportation to earth.
12. Conclusions about the interpretation of the evidence about observation of unidentified flying objects.